Top court orders new trial linked to 'bunga bunga' case

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 14 - Italy's supreme Court of Cassation on Monday ordered a new appeal-level trial in the so-called Ruby ter case, one of several stemming from the alleged "bunga bunga" sex parties late ex-premier and media billionaire Silvio Berlusconi held at his home in Arcore near Milan.
    As a result, around 20 people, including several of the women who attended the parties, face a new trial on charges of corruption in judicial acts.
    The defendants include Karima El Mahroug, a Moroccan nicknamed Ruby Heartstealer who Berlusconi allegedly paid for sex before she was 18 in 2010.
    Berlusconi was ultimately acquitted of paying for sex with a minor in the main Ruby case on the grounds that there was not proof he was aware El Mahroug was under 18.
    The Ruby ter (Ruby third in Latin) case regards allegations Berlusconi, who died at the age of 86 last year, bribed witnesses to lie about the parties and say they were innocent affairs.
    All the defendants, including Berlusconi, were acquitted by the court of first instance on a technicality.
    The supreme court on Monday ruled that the statute of limitations has run out on the charges of perjury against the Ruby ter defendants.
    But a similar charge, of corruption in judicial acts, has been upheld.
    The young women, including El Mahroug, have admitted being paid and given apartments by Berlusconi but have insisted he did this out of generosity at first and later to compensate them for the reputational damage caused by the trials.
    The women have been dubbed 'Olgettine' after the Milan street, Via Olgettina, where their luxury flats are located. (ANSA).